Best Warbler This Week

Migration, Songbirds
Brewster’s warbler, Tower Grove Park, May 2014 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

4 May 2024

As I mentioned on Thursday morning, I spent a few days this week at Magee Marsh boardwalk where I experienced the quiet days before The Biggest Week in American Birding. On Thursday 2 May the weather was great, there were more birds to see, and there were 5 times as many people compared to Tuesday. That’s when I re-learned the advantages of birding with a (small) crowd.

I happened to be on a quiet section of the boardwalk when I noticed a crowd forming ahead. Many people were focusing binoculars and cameras at the spot where two guides were pointing and explaining a bird. I rushed over to find out what was up.

On my first look at the bird, I thought “golden-winged warbler” because of its yellow wing, yellow crown, and whitish chest (see example at top), but something wasn’t quite right. Word was spreading through the crowd that this was a Brewster’s warbler, the hybrid offspring of golden-winged x blue-winged warblers. Though not technically a species, for me it was a Life Bird.

The big difference between a Brewster’s and a golden-winged is that the Brewster’s looks pale with a white throat (not black) and a black eyeline (not a wider face patch). Here’s a side-by-side comparison of a male golden-winged warbler vs. a Brewster’s warbler.

Compare male golden-winged warbler to Brewster’s warbler hybrid (photos from Wikimedia Commons)

This diagram embedded from Cornell Lab’s All About Birds shows the warbler’s parents on the left and the Brewster’s in the top right corner. The parents can also produce another variation: a Lawrence’s warbler (bottom right) which I have never seen. Click on the caption to read about their genetics.

Warblers and Hybrids: Blue-winged, Brewster’s, Golden-winged, Lawrence’s (embedded from Cornell Lab’s All About Birds; Illustrations by Liz Clayton Fuller, Bartels Science Illustration Intern)

I left Magee Marsh yesterday morning while it was raining steadily so I missed the Brewster’s reappearance but my friend Kathy Saunders saw him on 3 May in the same place as the day before.

Yay! Best Bird!

(credits are in the captions)

In the Media: Peregrines, Spring Migration, and Birding

Migration, Peregrines
Downtown peregrine with bands, 14 April 2023 (photo by Jeff Cieslak)

3 May 2024

Usually there’s not much bird news in the media, but this was a big week so let’s catch up.

Peregrine falcon chick in Cathedral of Learning nest dies, CBS News, includes comments from Bob Mulvihill at the National Aviary. This is in addition to my report: Now There Are Only Two.

Flying high: Peregrine falcon population likely growing statewide, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Happy news continues on the peregrine’s success story in Pennsylvania.

Here come the early birds: Hummingbirds and warblers part of the first wave of spring migrants News on spring migration and recent hot weather.

And in case you missed it earlier this week, I appeared in a birding segment on KDKA’s Talk Pittsburgh with hosts Heather Abraham and Boaz Frankel at Frick Park.

video embedded from CBS Pittsburgh on YouTube

(credits are in the captions)

Starting Tomorrow: The Biggest Week for Birds

Books & Events, Migration
American restart singing (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

2 May 2024

Last weekend the headline in the Toledo Blade read:   Biggest Week  80,000 Birders Return on Friday. The Biggest Week in American Birding begins tomorrow at Maumee Bay Lodge in northwestern Ohio, drawing birders from around the world to see millions of migrating birds, especially warblers.

Normally I would be one of those 80,000 people but this year I didn’t have time for a trip next week so I’m here at Magee Marsh right now, 30 April to 3 May. As your advance scout I can tell you that the situation is different in the week before the Biggest one.

  • There were surprisingly few people here on Tuesday and Wednesday, 30 Apr and 1 May. There were few on the boardwalk, even fewer at Maumee Bay Lodge. That changed on Thursday 2 May when there were five times more people on the boardwalk. (The crowd began.)
  • Vendors for the festival started arriving on Wednesday.
  • Other than yellow-rumped and palm, there aren’t many warblers. Though the weather has been quite warm, overnight winds have been from the north, blowing off the lake. I’ve seen a small variety of warblers but only single birds and it takes effort to find them.
  • I miss the benefits of birding in a crowd. To find really good birds, I look for a crowd with their binoculars up and they help find the bird.
  • With so few birds (relative to the Biggest Week), a ruby-crowned kinglet drew a lot of attention.
  • This year: Only a short loop of the Maumee Bay Lodge Nature Center boardwalk is open. The majority is closed due to storm damage in June 2023 (shown here).

So the best time to see warblers in northwestern Ohio really is during the Biggest Week.

Biggest Week in American Birding logo, 2024

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh migration is ahead of schedule and has been quite good. I haven’t seen any of the birds shown in the logo above in Ohio this week, but I’ve already seen the orange ones in southwestern PA — an American redstart and a Blackburnian warbler.

If I want to see the other two species — the Kirtland’s and mourning warblers — the best place will be northwestern Ohio during the Biggest Week.

(credits are in the captions)

Spring Update: Where Are We Now?

Migration, Phenology, Trees
Oak tree in bloom with dangling pollen flowers (photo by Kate St. John)

1 May 2024

Since our last spring checkup six weeks ago, Pittsburgh has galloped into summer. Last weekend we had July-in-April weather with official highs of 83°F and even higher in town.

Pitt peregrine Carla felt the heat at 10am on 29 April as she shaded her chicks and gular fluttered (panted) to cool herself off.

It’s hot at the Pitt peregrine nest, Carla shades the chicks, 29 April 2024, 10am (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Pittsburgh is not alone. In a wide swath of the U.S. from Iowa to New York spring was 20+ days early this year. In Pittsburgh nearly half of April was more than 10°F above normal while we had only one cold day at 12°F below normal.

U.S. Daily Spring Index Leaf Anomaly, 1 May 2024 (map generated by USANPN Visualization Tool)

So what temperature should we expect if we’re only 20 days ahead of schedule? April 29th ought to have been like a normal 19 May but it was way beyond that.

The heat prompted the trees to leaf out early and flowers to bloom ahead of schedule. Maples and buckeyes are in full leaf now and our oaks are at flower+leaf stage as shown at top. The leaves are hosting food for birds in the form of tiny caterpillars, so …

Migratory birds are taking advantage of the south winds and early leaf out. Since 27 April we’ve seen our first scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, indigo buntings and warblers.

Charity Kheshgi has been documenting our good luck with warblers at Frick Park. Notice the size of the leaves in her photos!

p.s. And where am I? Right now I’m at Magee Marsh a week ahead of The Biggest Week in American Birding. I don’t expect to see the swarms of migratory birds that will be here next week (I’m leaving on 3 May) but I’ll learn what happens before the people show up and why everyone waits until next week. 😉

(credits are in the captions)

Birding with Heather and Boaz, Talk Pittsbugh

Books & Events
Screenshot from CBS’s Talk Pittsburgh video published 29 April 2024

30 April 2024

On TV!

In mid-April I had the opportunity to guide KDKA’s Talk Pittsburgh hosts Heather Abraham and Boaz Frankel on a birding trip to Frick Park. We had a great time watching birds and talking about their behavior.

Our adventure aired yesterday afternoon. See it here on the Talk Pittsburgh website or embedded below.

video embedded from CBS Pittsburgh on YouTube

Now There Are Only Two

Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Two thriving chicks, 3rd chick inert, 28 April 2024, 12:26pm

29 April 2024

When Carla and Ecco’s third egg hatched on 24 April we expected that all three chicks would thrive but our expectations had to change as we watched the third chick in its first days of life. By yesterday afternoon it was apparent that the third chick had died. He had trouble feeding and never grew. Unfortunately he failed to thrive.

This slideshow from the National Aviary snapshot camera shows key moments that indicate he was not in good condition on 26-28 April. For instance:

  • During feedings the third chick faced away or fell down.
  • On 26 April he motored far from the group during a feeding.
  • By dawn on Sunday 28 April his body was flat and unresponsive. He had probably died overnight.

The remaining two chicks are growing rapidly and doing well. They are nearly too large to brood.

Carla with two chicks, 29 April 2024, 6:46am

Watch them grow up at the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.

(photos from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Playing Music With Birds

Songbirds, Vocalizations
Northern cardinal singing (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

28 April 2024

Now that the breeding season is here the air is filled with birdsong from dawn to dusk. Birds sing to claim territory and attract a mate, but they also appear to sing for the joy of joining others in song. Is the dawn chorus actually a community performance?

In the 1920s British cellist Beatrice Harrison discovered that when she played her cello in the garden the birds responded, approached, and sang along.

Beatrice Harrison, cellist, with her sister May, violinist, 1920 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Europe’s great songster, the common nightingale, was especially drawn to join her performance. (Click here for the nightingale’s song.)

Common nightingale, singing (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

In 1924 the BBC recorded her playing in the garden with a nightingale joining in.

video embedded from Kall48 on YouTube

Fast forward to modern times. Two decades ago in Chicago, musician Lisa Rest lived in a third floor apartment whose windows were level with the tree canopy. On warm days she played her piano with the window open and eventually noticed that birds approached her window and sang while she was practicing.

Because Lisa has perfect pitch she could tell the birds were singing in key with her music. Soon she became interested in birds, continued playing music with them, and started a blog named Goldbird Variations. The birds were especially drawn when she played Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

Read how her journey began at her blog post below or click here to listen to Aria to the Goldberg by Lisa Rest in which she’s accompanied by house sparrow, house finch, white-throated sparrow and northern cardinal.

How I started playing music for birds

Nowadays Lisa Rest often goes birding and blogs about birds and the changing seasons. Catch up with her at Goldbird Variations (https://musicbirdblog.com/).

For more information about Beatrice Harrison and the nightingales see The Cello and Nightingale Sessions at publicradio.org.

(credits are in the captions)

Seen This Week at Enlow Fork

Migration, Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Fire pink, 25 April 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

27 April 2024

Last Thursday four of us made our annual pilgrimage to Enlow Fork on the border of Washington & Greene Counties(*) to look for wildflowers and birds. We saw carpets of blue-eyed Mary as well as fire pink, wild geranium and dwarf larkspur in both blue and white. (Can you see the tiny spider on the fire pink petal, above?)

Hillside of Blue-eyed Mary and wild blue phlox, Enlow Fork, 25 April 2024 (photo by Barb Griffith)
Wild Geranium, 25 April 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dwarf larkspur white form, 25 April 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Record-setting rain in the beginning of April left flood debris in the valley. Donna Foyle photographed the fallen trees that nearly hit the pedestrian bridge.

Enlow Fork flood debris, 25 April 2024 (photo by Donna Foyle)

I tried to capture the water-swept mud and flood depth by photographing debris stuck in the trees. The high water mark here was up to my chin.

Enlow Fork flood debris, 25 April 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

The floodwaters swept freshwater clams from their homes leaving their empty shells among the flood debris.

Dead freshwater clams were among the flood debris, 25 April 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

We didn’t see many birds at first, perhaps because it was so cold. By the time we were ready to walk back it had warmed up enough to see my First Of Year Baltimore oriole, rose-breasted grosbeak and scarlet tanager deep in the woods.

Scarlet tanager First of Year, Enlow Fork, 25 April 2024 (photo by Donna Foyle)

We also saw or heard seven warblers including Louisiana waterthrush, common yellowthroat, northern parula, redstart, Nashville, yellow and yellow-throated warblers.

At one point I put my bright hat (on top of my sun hat & headband) in case a distant wood thrush would notice. The thrush did not, but I earned the name “Golden-crowned Katelet.”

Golden-crowned Katelet, Enlow Fork, 25 April 2024 (photo by Donna Foyle)

We had a great day among pale spring leaves and blue-eyed Marys.

Kate St. John, Donna Foyle, Donna Collett, Enlow Fork, 25 April 2024 (photo by Barb Griffith)

Next week will be much warmer. Bring on the birds!

(*) Where is Enlow Fork?

The Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek forms the boundary between Washington and Greene Counties in southwestern PA. When we say “Enlow Fork” we are referring to the northern section of PA State Gameland #302 on both sides of Enlow Fork creek. The Gamelands (unpaved) parking lot is at this pin drop: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uzw42KqYZexLP4AB6.

(credits are in the captions. Thanks to Donna Foyle and Barb Griffith for contributing their photos)

The Tenants Are Famous

Bird Behavior
Sitting Room Nuthatch (screenshot from #GwylltHollow)

26 April 2024

Happy Friday! These unruly nuthatch tenants are now so famous that they were featured on BBC1 6 o’clock News on Wednesday. For added fun there was footage of the tawny owl babies (Strix aluco) who will soon take a look outside their nestbox.

Here’s @WildlifeKate to tell their story.

video embedded from @WildlifeKate

Watch the nuthatches on their own live stream at Gwyllt Hollow– Sitting Room Nuthatches. Follow WildlifeKate @katemacrae on X for updates.

p.s. to North Americans: Tawny owls don’t occur in North America but they are in the same genus as barred owls (Strix varia) whom they somewhat resemble.

Three Chicks at Pitt Peregrine Nest

Nesting & Courtship, Peregrines
Carla, Chick #3 (pink) and its eggshell, 24 April 2024, 7:41pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

25 April 2024

The third chick at the Cathedral of Learning peregrine nest hatched last evening around 7:40pm. All day long he hammered on his shell, expanding the pip to a crack surrounding the egg. Just before nightfall he opened the shell and rested face down. Hatching is exhausting work!

You can see the open eggshell and the wet, pink chick in snapshots above and below.

Carla, Chick #3 (pink) and its eggshell, 24 April 2024, 7:42pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

After the third chick emerged it was time for the last feeding before dark. When Carla left to get the food we could see all three chicks (two white, one pink) as well as the remaining unhatched egg behind the open shell.

3 chicks and one egg before the evening meal, 24 April 2024, 7:47pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Ecco stepped in to keep the chicks warm while Carla prepared the food.

Ecco arrives to keep them warm while Carla prepares the meal, 24 April 2024, 7:50pm

Ecco left as Carla returned with their sixth feeding of the day.

Carla arrives to feed the chicks, Ecco leaves, 24 April 2024, 7:52pm (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Last night the third chick was too new and exhausted to eat yet but he’ll be feeding today. Watch three chicks grow up at the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh.

UPDATE, 28 April 2024, 3:30pm: Sad to say, the 3rd chick has died. He had trouble feeding and never got any larger. Both are signs of a failure to thrive.

(photos from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)